By Nurul Azhar
Content Warning: This article contains mentions of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and sexual violence.
A highly anticipated annual event held by one of the ANU’s residential halls, Burton & Garran (B&G), was cancelled at the last minute.
“MX”, set for the night of Thursday 1 October, is an annual student-only event where students commemorate and embrace their sexuality through strip performances, extravagant dances, and racy outfits. The event is amongst the longest-running traditions in B&G, tracing back decades.
According to an email, sent the day before MX, to ressies by B&G’s Head of Hall, Liz Hayes, “in the lead up to the event, [B&G] worked through a number of safe-making measures”. She stated that “additional measures [were implemented] following further concerns from the university”.
Despite these extra measures, Liz received “additional concerns [that were] raised overnight and [on Thursday] morning, from multiple perspectives”.
Rumours were circulating regarding some of the parents of B&G residents who became aware of MX lodging a complaint to the ANU’s Residential Experience Division (RED) about the “inappropriateness” of the event. However, there has been no confirmation by B&G that the rumours are true.
These rumours have raised concerns within B&G’s internal Facebook group over helicopter parenting, where parents of students get involved with their children’s university business without the latter’s consent.
A concerned B&G resident wrote on their internal Facebook group, “it is never more important that we teach boys how to respect women. If someone’s parent has a problem with that then [they’re] a part of the problem”.
“If an event with that [high] level of safeguarding still gets classed as too risky to run, I think it says something about how events built around sexuality and body positivity are assessed,” another resident expressed.
“We’re all adults. Choosing to express ourselves, be confident in our bodies and have a fun night in a consent-first space is a legitimate choice, not a liability by default.”
Observer reached out to B&G’s social rep and MX performer, Briena Connon, who stated that she and the rest of the MX performers were informed by Liz that MX had been cancelled due to “a combination of changing circumstances” in the middle of practice, hours before MX was to start.
Briena stated that it was “quite clear that it was beyond [Liz’s] control considering the amount of time it took for the circumstances to change”.
“We weren’t given a specific reason, Liz said she wasn’t given the authority to reveal specific information so no one really knew. In the end people were talking about a parent being involved, […] but I don’t know if it was that.”
She added, “she told us that something needed to be investigated. [The cancellation] definitely was from the people higher up. I think she meant that she couldn’t disclose the [reason] because of privacy, but also because she needed to deal with her higher ups—it wasn’t coming from her, the pressure was coming from above”.
The cancellation comes at a time when concerns about sexual violence on university campuses across the world are high, following the recent Cornell 7 case, where a former student filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell University for mishandling an alleged gang rape. Seven Cornell students from a fraternity house were alleged to be the perpetrators.
Mia, another MX performer, believes that the “requirements for safety—which are obviously important—start to do something in reverse where it creates the idea in everyone’s head that [MX] is more dangerous than it is”.
“[While] it’s definitely true that there’s potential for danger, it’s small compared to [the] benefits and how positive of an event [MX] is.”
Briena emphasised MX’s opportunity for “self expression, celebrating yourself, your friendships, queerness, and having a space where you can do that” and therefore the “regulations have caused a loss of sense of what [MX] means to people”.
She stressed that MX risks “losing its momentum and enthusiasm, because people [will] get tired by having to answer to other people [and] why these higher ups won’t allow them to know why [it’s been cancelled]”.
B&G ressie, Hannah, commented that “[the cancellation] was disrespectful of the time and money that all the performers and stage crew put in to get it done”.
“So many people were missing classes to do this because you’re being vulnerable by being on the stage. And to not be given a real reason? I find it ridiculous.”
“I feel people lose a bit of trust in the system and trust in giving [MX] a go because we gave it a go. So, if I was a first year, I’d be a bit disheartened with putting myself out there in events because, what’s going to happen? The rug gets pulled out from you 2 hours before?”
Briena also criticised the administration division above the Head of Hall, emphasising that they do not have the right to say “you can’t do this” to a culturally important event without understanding the culture of B&G and how important MX is to sexual identity and body acceptance.
“And it’s scary; people were dressing in drag for the first time ever,” she added. “It’s something that mentally, they’ve had to prep for all week to get in front of their peers, and they’ve obviously felt comfortable enough to do so because they signed up”.
Observer reached out to ANU Media and Sexual Education expert Katrina Marson for comments, but they did not respond in time for publication.
More to come.
Graphics by Anushkaa Ahuja
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